Analysis Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events

Why Land Seizure Is Back in News in South Africa: QuickTake Q&A

Attendees pass by ANC branded boarding during the 54th national conference of the African National Congress party in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. The leadership conference of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has accepted the credentials of the delegates, opening the way for the start of voting to choose the party’s top officials, according to five people familiar with the deliberations. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg)

ByArabile Gumede and Amogelang Mbatha | Bloomberg

December 21, 2017

More than two decades after white-minority rule ended in South Africa, most of its profitable farms and estates are still owned by white people, and about 95 percent of the country's wealth is in the hands of 10 percent of the population. The ruling African National Congress has vowed to step up wealth distribution and promised "radical economic transformation," including constitutional changes to allow the government to expropriate land without paying for it.

1. Why is land ownership an issue?

Under the rule of European colonists, South Africa's Natives Land Act of 1913 stripped most black people of their right to own property, a policy reinforced decades later by the National Party and its system of apartheid, or apartness. By 2010, records of who owned what in the country were "uncoordinated, inadequate or incomplete," according to Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti, prompting the government to embark on a land audit that it released in 2013. Though the audit offered some insight into land ownership -- it showed that 14 percent of land belonged to the state, versus 79 percent by private individuals, companies and trusts -- it didn't break this down by race. A separate audit released Nov. 1 by Agri Development Solutions and farm lobby group AGRI SA found non-whites own 27 percent of the nation's farmland compared with 14 percent in 1994.

2. What's been done until now?

Since 1994, when the ANC became the nation's dominant post-apartheid party, the state has bought 4.9 million hectares -- about 4 percent of the country's total territory -- for land redistribution, with about 3.4 million hectares assigned to new owners, according to Nkwinti. Those who didn't want the land allocated to them opted for money instead, with 11.6 billion rand ($910 million) paid out from 1994 until January. A separate initiative known as the 50-50 program, meant to encourage joint black-white land management, uses government funds to buy half a farmer's land and give it to laborers working there. It started in 2016.

3. What changes are on the table?

Parliament proposed legislation that would allow the government to pay "just and equitable" compensation -- meaning, less than market prices -- for land it expropriates. President Jacob Zuma sent the bill back to lawmakers, saying it wouldn't pass constitutional muster. Another bill, offered for public comment in March by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, would ban foreigners from buying agricultural land and require them instead to enter into long-term leases. It also calls for creating a commission that will set up a register of land ownership that will include race and the size of the holding. On Dec. 20, the ruling ANC, under newly elected party president Cyril Ramaphosa, said expropriating land without compensation should be among mechanisms to effect land reform, as long as it doesn't undermine the economy, agricultural production and food security.

4. What is the party's plan?

It's urging parliament to change South Africa's constitution to allow taking land without any compensation. Zuma has also called for a precolonial audit of land ownership, use and occupation patterns.

5. Is taking land without compensation legal?

AGRI SA, the biggest organization representing the country's farmers, says the constitution doesn't provide for expropriation without "just and equitable" compensation. Deprivation of property without compensation "constitutes a very serious breach of an individual's rights," it said.

6. Who's with Zuma on this?

His party initially wasn't, after its lawmakers voted against a March motion by an opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, to get parliament to change the constitution to permit taking land without paying. The ANC, which in March released a discussion paper saying the state should pay fair compensation for any land it acquires to address racial inequality, has since changed its tune.

7. Why has the ANC changed its mind?

The party under Zuma has come under pressure as economic growth stagnates. There have been calls for his resignation from the opposition, civic leaders and senior officials in his own party, following a series of scandals and an unpopular cabinet reshuffle. The ANC lost voters in 2016 local elections to parties including the EFF. Zuma's immersion in a succession of scandals is eroding the party's standing to such an extent that it's now at risk of losing its majority in 2019 elections, and it needs policies that will gain traction among the nation's poor.

8. What's the outlook in parliament?

Two-thirds of lawmakers would have to assent to change the constitution. The ANC holds 62 percent of the seats. The EFF, South Africa's third-biggest political party, has 6.4 percent and has said it would back the ruling party on the constitutional amendment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Arabile Gumede in Johannesburg at agumede@bloomberg.net, Amogelang Mbatha in Johannesburg at ambatha@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro, Laurence Arnold